Move Over, Mr. Darcy

I'm in love. His name is John Thornton. He's English, from the northern part. He is incredibly principled, unfailingly honest, ambitious, but not greedy, firm, but not rigidly so, gruff on the outside but terribly kind on the inside - flawed, but perfect at the same time. There's just one problem: he's a fictional character. Yes, I'm in love with someone who doesn't exist.

See, a few weeks ago, I discovered a 2004 BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel "North and South". It is amazing - the first week I owned it I watched it about 4 times. I finally lent it to a friend just to get it out of my house to remove the temptation. Then, I lent it to another friend, and marvelled at my self-control and generousity, because I really missed John Thornton. The actor who portrayed him did a fine, fine job (and he's really not bad to look at, either - he's a little Hugh Jackman-y). John Thornton has entirely replaced Mr. Darcy as my all-time favorite hero. He's still up there, though, along with Roger Hamley and Gilbert Blythe. John Thornton could take them all, though, hands down.

So. John Thornton was returned to my on Thursday, and I watched him on Friday and fell in love all over again. I highly, highly, highly recommend the novel and the adaptation of "North and South". I promise that you will not regret the reading or watching of it.